The Role of Violence and the Idea of America in Ralph Ellison's “A Party Down at the Square”

Abstract

While Ralph Ellison's unshakable faith in the American democracy and his obvious desire to be counted among the great tradition of American (not necessarily African American) literature, have at times made him appear accommodationist to some, and even "dangerous," to use Amiri Baraka's word, to others, this view overlooks the centrality of violence in Ellison's fiction. By examining the role of violence in a key early scene of Invisible Man, but mostly in Ellison's early short story, "A Party Down at the Square," this essay argues that there is an important addition to the understanding of Ellison's writing available through an examination of the role violence plays in his work.